Question reference: S6W-14202
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 January 2023
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of any trends in the number of suspected spiking-related incidents in the last 12 months.
Answer
Analysis of spiking incidents is undertaken by Police Scotland on a weekly basis to ensure national oversight is maintained and understanding evolves. The Scottish Government is kept informed about any changes in the prevalence of spiking.
Most recently, a report by Police Scotland from 7 December 2022 indicated that in mid-October 2021, Police Scotland noted a significant increase in the number of reported crimes relating to spiking. This pattern continued for an initial 8 week period, peaking at almost 60 in the first week of November 2021. After this initial period, reports of spiking decreased quickly and amounted to single figure weekly reporting by mid-December 2021. A slight increase was noted in the second half of January and into February 2022 however levels have since reduced, returning to an average of 6 reports per week since mid-December 2021 until 30 October 2022. The report showed that between 1 October 2021 and 30 October 2022, there were 601 recorded crimes relating to Spiking.